During the 7th Cracow Maya Conference special emphasis will be placed on the presentation of the results of recent years of research that show the great significance of relations between the Maya as well as other Mesoamerican societies with the surrounding natural landscape. Life in close relation with nature has played vital role in the processes of creation, development as well as the collapse of Maya civilization for instance. Although these relations have been subjected to many transformations, they are still a very important part of life of the present-day Maya communities, which are facing new types of changes, occurring under the influence of modernization processes. Some of the most important research questions to be developed during the conference are the influence of the Maya society and people on the environment; how the people change and reshape the surrounding natural world and whether there was an intense human-environmental cooperation, both nowadays and in the past. Our intent is to analyze this problem from archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, archaeozoological, as well as anthropological and linguistic perspectives. Furthermore, we would like to take into consideration the latest research results and applications of the LiDAR technology that reveals the intensity of reshaping the landscape by ancient Mesoamerican peoples. The symbolic and anthropological sphere will also be emphasized: How the world of flora, fauna, and the physiographic elements of landscape (including mountains, caves, rivers) were made visible in belief systems (and made manifest in iconography and epigraphy); what types of motifs from the natural world can be seen in the iconography and epigraphy, and what is their symbolism and importance within the worldview of the Maya and other Mesoamerican societies?

SPEAKERS ON SYMPOSIUM:

Edyta Andzel-O’Shanahan

Agnieszka Hamann

Norman Hammond

Joanna Jabłońska

KajetanJagodziński

Eva Jobbova

Harri Kettunen

Milan Kováč

Guido Krempel

Khristin Landry-Montes

Genner Llanes-Ortiz

Nicolaus Seefeld

Joanna Składowska

Magdalena Więckowska

BEGINNER WORKSHOP:

"The world of fauna in Maya personal names" by Boguchwała Tuszyńska, Agnieszka Hamann & Dorota Bojkowska

This workshop is intended for participants who have never worked on Maya glyphs or have only limited knowledge of the Maya writing system, however everybody interested in the topic is welcome. Participants will be provided with basic information on the Maya writing system, calendar and linguistics. During the workshop we will focus on personal names recorded in glyphic inscriptions from different Maya cities. It is well-known that many Maya male and female names are based on animal names used in various combinations: 1) names of two animals; 2) an animal's name modified by an adjective or a noun; 3) an animal's name accompanied by a deity's name; 4) an animal's body part in a possessive form. Working on Maya glyphic texts, participants will become more familiar not only with the beauty of the Maya personal names but also with the fauna of the Maya world, such as mammals, reptiles and birds. The workshop will be conducted in English. Other available languages during classes: Spanish and Polish.

INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP I:

"The Natural World in Maya Art and Writing" by Harri Kettunen & Guido Krempel

This workshop focuses on the representations of the natural world in Maya iconography and the role of the natural environment in the Maya script. Participants will explore a variety of artistic traits and epigraphic attributes that originate in the natural environment, including flora, fauna, and geological features. Besides lectures and the workshop proper, participants are also encouraged to explore, discuss, and present their own potential research projects related to the topic of the conference and the workshop. Basic familiarity with Maya epigraphy and iconography will facilitate to follow the arguments presented at the workshop.

Like all other pictorial scripts Maya hieroglyphic writing reflects the realities of the world in which ancient people lived. Being more or less figurative Maya hieroglyphs represented existing environment. Looking on these signs we can recognize such things as animals, birds, insects, plants, natural objects and phenomena, etc. This workshop provides an overview of the basic terms and concepts of ancient Maya’s perception of the “non-living” environment. We will focus on the following topics: representation of materials, ritual objects, natural and artificial landscape in signs and hieroglyphic inscriptions. How ancient Maya perceived these categories of the environment? How they denominated and managed them? These are the main questions to be discussed during the workshop. The workshop is open to those who have basic knowledge of Maya hieroglyphic writing. It will be taught in English